Very windy at the summit. Like 70 MPH winds. We went up the Kautz and down Dissapointment. Slept at Hazzard Camp above the Turtle, and also slept at Camp Muir. It felt like walking up a sledding hill for 3 days. Would I do it again? While on the trail I'da said, "No", but in looking back I enjoyed the experience. Now I'm thinking of Liberty Ridge. Hmmm

Fun route! Camped below Hazard at around 11k, rapped the rock slot under the chute to get to the glacier. Conditions were pretty good on the Kautz. Perfect weather and great partners made for a memorable trip. The slog up to high camp seems forever though!

Due to very iffy weather, reported high winds near the summit, and our group's uncomfortableness with descending the ice shoot above the rock step, we turned around just past the rappel, effectively turning our summit attempt into a route reconnoiter (as such, we hope to return in the following weeks, if this is successful a full trip report will follow). with the unusually warm temperatures we found the snow extremely slushy and were surprised by rain at our base camp. also of note: as we ate lunch on a rock outcropping on the edge of the Kautz we witnessed a massive ice fall that triggered what looked to be a wet loose avalanche in the gully just west of the one we would have ascended (the next one over, away from the Kautz headwall).

we kept leap froging a group of 2 up the mountain one of them stumbled there way to the summit they were climbing unroped with bad altitude sickness then long story short we were on and one of them lipped into a cravasse stuck up to there chest my friend pulled her up as she held on to his ice tool as she had no harness on we all decended safley together happy to still be alive fun climb amazing sun rise deffentally do this climb you will not be dissapointed.

Was a great climb! We set out from paradise and hiked up to Panorama Point. We dropped into the nisqually and upon exit we climbed up what is called The Fan. This brought us up to the Wilson Glacier. We made our way up this and eventually onto the Turtle snow field. We camped at aprox. 11,000ft at Camp Hazard. We had an early alpine start and 10 minutes after leaving we had to down climb the rock step which had fixed ropes. We also set up our own anchors and belayed down. This brought us onto the Kautz. The chute itself tops out at aprox. 12,500ft..ish. We had to navigate around several large cravases and eventually to the summit. We descended via the same route where we camp the same place as the previous night. And hiked out the next morning. Conditions were great. 15 degree F with maybe 20mph winds. The chute itself was in excellent condition.

Successfully climbed with RMI guides. Belayed on ascent and lowered for descent, used ice screws mostly and some pickets for the last pitch. Lot of snow still, just about a 100 foot ice section at the bottom an 150 feet at top. Fun.

We went up the Kautz and down the Disappointment Cleaver. Great conditions, although the headwall was all suncupped and almost to the point of penitentes. Found running water at 10800' camp.Trip report

Did this one again in July 2012. Very different conditions, choosing the Wilson instead of the Fan, and with ice bands in the chute requiring belays and rappels.Trip report

Enjoyed a trip up Rainier via the Kautz on the 4th of July. The route was a fun climb on hard-packed snow. We got shut out of the summit on the 3rd after running out of wands with high winds and low visibility. I heard one team reached the summit on the 3rd from Camp Sherman, although the round trip took 22 hours. The weather was perfect on the 4th; you could see all the way to Mt. Jefferson. Great peak and route!

Climbed with Mark Connell in early July of a fantastic snow year, with a nice high pressure ridge. Camped at about 10600' on the left edge of the Turtle snowfield -- there was an existing rock wall and dry ground.

Around 11000'-ish was a fixed line to the glacier which we descended, avoiding exposure to the icefall gully at Camp Hazard.

The first pitch of the Kautz was still hard snow. Second pitch was glacier ice, perhaps 40-50-ish degrees, but very featured. On our way back we rappelled off a fixed snow anchor (probably buried pickets), some cheap leaver screws and an ice penitente.

Frank, Mike and I tried to do a two day trip on this route in 2003 but it proved to be too much for a bunch of old guys over 50. We came back in 2004 with a new plan where we would stay 1 night on the scree camp above the Wilson (9000) and the next at Camp Hazard (11,300) giving us a rest day before we went for the summit. We also had a chance to find the slot and the short rappel into the gully that leads to the ice cliff and onto the Kautz. We took off from Camp Hazard at 12:30 AM and climbed solo by headlamp until daybreak came as we were just below the crest. At 6:45 AM we were on the summit. We hung around for at least an hour as the sun warmed things up and then down climbed the route. We spent one more night at Camp Hazard and descended in the early morning when things were relatively quiet. We were very fortunate to have the luxury of timing our trip to be able climb in perfect weather. We started up the mountain just as a front moved out and high pressure was building. We had clear skies and freezing temperatures for all three nights making for perfect snow conditions and little activity from the cliff.